Dane could answer this one because I believe he had one of the very first splayed stripe ( skunk stripe ) ISDT helments. The early helmets were based on internation Gran Prix colours. Like British racing green, Italian Red, Belgian yellow, and USA White with two LeMans style blue stripes. For some reason for the ISDT / International colour Motorcycle racing helmets, the colour was reversed. Thus the Blue helmet with two white LeMans stripes. Later when Bell Helmets became the "Official" AMA TEAM helmet they were told to supply Blue helmets with two white stripes. They delivered the "SKUNK STRIPE" style. The riders at first hated the new look. But later when other teams commented on how the new style stood out and was noticed the riders came to like the new helmet. This is the story as I hear it.Dwight

Bell Helmets were donated to all the American ISDT participants the first ones (pre-1971) were Blue with two La Manns stripes offset on the side, there was also a USA on one side and a 3M American Flag on the other. See photo of the month.

Hello,does anyone know if John Penton had full face helmets made for sale with the Penton logo on the visor,color Penton green? I thought maybe HiPoint may have produced some helmets back in the day or perhaps Bell? Thanks for any help, Crash Carden-GO TEAM PENTON!

Crash, I don't have my catelogs handy, but the one on ebay is probably just a sticker added. Open for new thoughts. I am lost without my library....probably lost with it, you know, no red arrows to point the way

I recieved the book "40 Summers Ago" for Christmas, yes I must have been a good boy! In the book there is some discussion about the helmets that the first USA VASE team used in 1964. The team was made up of Steve McQueen, Bud and Dave Ekins and Cliff Coleman with Johnny Steen as alternate, all on Triumphs. The helmets were the Bell 500-TX and they were painted by Von Dutch whom was working for Bud Ekins at the time. The helmets actually had three white strips, each with a red pinstripe between the white and the blue. The center white stripe was wider than the side stripes and the side stripes angled away from the center stripe in the front. According to the author, Bud Ekins had always wore Bell helmets and had gotten Bell Toptex to supply them for the team. In a photo from the 1961 ISDT in Wales, Bud is shown wearing a helmet with the more common two white stripes. I really enjoyed this book which is more a collection of photos with captions than a book of a million words, but many stories were told with the aid of the photos.Paul